Abkhazia rebels claim second Georgia drone destroyed in day: report

MOSCOW: Rebels in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia claimed Monday to have shot down two Georgian spy planes in the same day, Interfax news agency reported, but Georgia immediately dismissed the claim.
 
"The second Georgian unmanned spy plane today and the seventh overall has been shot down Monday in the sky over Abkhazia," Interfax quoted the Russian-backed rebel presidency in Abkhazia as saying.

Earlier, Interfax quoted Merab Kishmaria, the rebel region's defence chief, as saying that a first drone was shot down by Abkhaz air defences near the Black Sea coastal town of Ochamchira.

Georgia has only acknowledged one such shooting, which it said was carried out by a Russian fighter jet on April 20.

The interior ministry in Tbilisi denied that any of its spy drones had been shot down Monday.

"This is simply not true," Interior Ministry Spokesman Shota Utiashvili told AFP. "There were no Georgian flights over Abkhazia today."

The pro-Western Georgian government accuses Moscow of backing separatists in Abkhazia and another rebel region, South Ossetia, in a bid to annex the strategically located territories and scupper Georgia's bid to join the NATO military alliance.

Russia says that Georgia is preparing to use force against Abkhaz rebels and has warned that its own military would intervene to halt any assault.

A group of EU foreign ministers was visiting the Georgian capital Tbilisi on Monday to discuss the growing crisis.